Refueling equipment



Original Filed Dec. 3 Sheets-Sheet l mm/ a 7 Ai a M 62 W MW 0 W 9 6 W-,0W/ TJ4J A TTORNEYS.

Aug. B. H. SHINN 1,969,430

REFUELING EQUIPMENT Original Filed Dec. 23, 1929 3Sheets-Sheet 2 95 36035W, Fxfm, WA/2m, ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 7, 1934. B. H. SHINN REFUELING EQUIPMENT :5 Sheets-Sheet 3 OriginalFiled Dec. 23, 1929 INVENTOR;

f ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 7, 1934 1,9 9,430 REFUELING EQUIPMENT Byron H.ShinnQWashington Pa assignor ,to'

Shinn Devices Corporation, Washington, Pa., a

a I corporation of Delaware Original application December 23, 1929,Serial No;

416,144. 1932, Serial No. 621,998

14 Claims." (Cl. 244-1), 7

"This invention is in refueling equipment for aircraft in flight, and isa division of my application serially numbered 416,144, filed December23, 1929, which has matured into Patent Number 1,866,942. Forconvenience, it will be described in connection with the refueling ofone airplane by'another, but the invention is, of course, applicable tolighter-than-air craft, as well as heavierthan-air craft. v i

10 5 The invention comprises a number of features in refueling equipmentwhich may be conveniently considered imder three heads; 7

' A. The extensible conduit or refueling pipe. "B. The valve mechanismand securing devices carried by the lower end of the pipe or conduit. C.The reel and associated mechanism carried by the mother ship, on whichreel the pipe is wound. a

The liquid carrying pipe-or conduit of this invention is madeextensible, so that if after'cona tact has been made between the twoships, one draws away from the other, contact will not be broken, butwill be maintained by the stretching of the pipe. In its preferred form,the pipe is made up of a number of interconnected bellows sections,so-that if a stretching force is exerted on the pipe it will veryreadily elongate and so accommodate itself to this stretching force.

, In order to decrease wind resistance, the refueling pipe is-madestreamlined, and in order further to lessen air resistance, there isprovided an enveloping membrane. This enveloping membrane is alsoelastic so that it stretches as the pipe elongatesi A possibledifiiculty to be reckoned within a pipe which stretches or elongates isthat the wind pressure, which at the speeds at which airplanes fly isvery considerable, would tend tobend backthe pipe to its fulllengthywhich is undesirable be- 40 cause it would lengthen the time ofthe refueling operation and because the pipe might become'entangled withthe tail surfaces of either ofthe planes. A spring might be used tocounteract this I tendency of the pipe to bow back, but a probabledifficulty with a spring is that on account of the fact that theelongation is proportional to the force applied, if the pipe werestretched to say twice its lengtnthe force exerted by the spring wouldbe so great, that forces difficult to handle would be encountered, whichwould-cause the pipe to snap backupon'release by the receiving ship,etc.

order to counteract the wind pressure there is provided in the rear partof the conduit a series of interconnected chambers which are :subjectedto suction or a partial vacuum, which tends '50 Divided and thisapplication July 11,

draw them together, which in turn tends to make the pipe bow intolthewind; and so tends to counteract the force of the wind tending to makethe pipe bow the otherway. 3 f

The liquid carrying pipe-orconduit, as above outlined, is described indetailand claimed in my Patent 1,866,942 above'referred to. Thepres'entTBS PATENT? OFF C v, "A LA GOT application has to do more particularlywith the valve mechanism and securing devices carried'by the lower endof the pipe or conduit, and the reel and associated mechanism carried bythe mother ship, on which reel the pipe is wound.

The valve mechanism at the lower end of the conduit comprises a valvewhich isope'ned manually, and which if released by the operator willimmediately and automatically'close. Associated with the valve housingare latch or'hook means for securing the 'valve in place on-thereceiving ship. This latch or hook mechanism is controlled by thesame'handle which controls the valve, being arranged so that if thehandle is'released, the valve will be closed as above mentioned, and atthe same time the latch or hook mechanism automatically disconnected.

Automatic means are also provided for closing the valve when the liquidin the receiving reservoir has reached a predetermined level. This isaccomplished through the suction or vacuum part of the conduit. To thisend," there is provided a liquid passage fromlthe' lowerencl of thevalve housing into a float chamber. -W lien the liquid in the receivingreservoir has nearly filled it, liquid is sucked up this passage andlifts the float which causes a diaph'ragmto be subjected to the vacuumor low pressure in the -conduit, the diaphragm'tripping a latch whichreleases the valve and' allows it to close automatie cally.

The reel carriedby' the mother ship'comprises a drum which is mountedexteriorlyof the fuselage to rotate on an axis extending fore and aft ofthe fuselage, the drum being mounted substantiallyconcentrically'of thefuselage. The drum is arranged to encircle the longerons ofthe fuselage.' A vacuum or suction pump preferably wind driven, is carried bythe mother ship and is adapt-- ed to beconnected to the vacuum chambers.in' the conduit. w

The main features ofthe invention havingbeen thus' outlined, theseseveral features will now be described in more detail, referencebeing-made to'the accompanying drawings, illustrating the presentpreferred embodiment of the invention; It should, however, be"understood that the in.

vention is not to be limited to the specific details illustrated, butthe inventive thought may be carried out in other ways.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view through the valve housing and associated;mechanism on the end of the pipe;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a detail of the receiving reservoir pipe 56 with one sideof the diaphragm 57, to the Fig. 4 shows the reel on the mother ship;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view showing the-mounting of the reel; V

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 1 3--1 3 of Fig. 5;

Figs. 7 and 8 are side and cross sections ofa wind driven vacuum pump.

Referring now to these drawingsin which Sim;- ilar reference charactersindicate similar parts,

there is carried at the lower end of the pipe or conduit 1, a housingmember indicated generally at 20. The lowermost of the bellows elements21' of the pipel has a downward lip 22 which takes over a flange 23' onthe housing being se cured thereto by a collar 24. Leading from thehousing 20 is a delivery pipe 25 designed to deliver fluid into thereservoir: 26 on the receiving ship. The housing is provided with avalve seat 27 adapted to be closed by a valve 28 pivoted on the shaft 29to move therewith. 011 one end of the shaft 29 there is secured ahandle30 by which the shaft 29 may herotated. A pivoted latch 32 urgeddownwardlyby spring 33 tends to hold the. valve 28 in the open position.The valve is connected with its. handle 30 so that if the handle isreleased by the operator, the valve willbe closed automatically by'flowof fluid. To this' end the handle30is provided with a pivoted member 34.the outer end .35 of which engages with a rod 36, which slides in theshaft 29. The end-of the rod 36 comes out of the shaftafi through a slot37 and is, bent upwardly as at 38 so asto be i'n'a position to engagethe latch -32. 1f the operator should release the handle 39 a spring .39would push the pivoted member 34 so as to cause the end 38 of the handleto disengage. the latch '32 whereupon 28 would close.

Mounted on the reservoir 26 of the receiving ship is a pair of standards40 provided with pin: tles 42. The shaft zaalready described is provided with apair of hooks 43 fixed to rotate with the shaft, sothat whenthe handle 30 is-turnedcounterclockwise so as to open thevalvef28, thehooks 43 will engage the pintles t2. for holding the housing member 20in position to deliver. the fluid to the reservoir 26. .If the operatorreleases the handle, valve 28 is closed as already described, and at thesame time the hooks 43 will be swung to the left, Fig.1, andautomatically dis engaged from the pintles 42. 1

Mechanism for automatically releasing the valve when the reservoir 26 issubstantially full will now be described. I I I The lowermostbellcwsrne'mber 21 is provided witha downwardly"extending lip 45 whichen' gages over a. nipple 46' on the housing 20 bein secured thereto bycollar 47. The nipple 46 is pro vided with a valve seat 48 on which. isseated a valve-'49 connected by rod-49c with afloat 50 moving in thefloat chamber 51. A valve. 491) on rod 49a is adapted to seat againstvalve seat 49c in the top of th'chamherfil. The valveseat 48 is providedwith a- 'smallyby-pass .52 'whieh'subiects the interior of the floatchamber to a slight suction. The housing-20 is provided with meansforming-a passage 53 communicating with the float chamber 51 and havinga-lower'opening 54 which would be located near the top of the receivingreservoir 26 when the apparatus is in fluid delivering position. Whenthe reservoir has been filled to the level of the opening 54 the suctionwithin the fioat chamber will draw up fluid into the float chamberwhiohwill cause the float to rise, close valve 492; and open valve 49,and

. create a strong suction in a chamber 55 just below the valve. Thechamber 55 is connected through center of which is connected a rod 58pivoted to a pivoted trip member 59. When the float rises and subjectsthe chamber 55 to this strong suction,

diaphragm 57 will be pulled to the left, moving the'upper end of thetrip member to the right, tripping the valve which will close, due togravity and the downward rush of fluid.

11 *The fuselage of the mother ship is indicated at 65. Toward the rearpart of the fuselage there is mounted a winding drum or reel 66, mountedsubstantially concentrically. with the fuselage, that is to say, theaxis of the reel and the axis of the fuselage are substantiallycoincident. Encir cling the longerons 67 of the fuselage thereis aplurality-of rings 68. Grooved or other suitable rollers 69 roll onthese rings 68 and serve as a bearing and mounting for the reel 66, justoutside theseirollers.

The reel may be turned by hand, but power means is preferably providedfor turning it;.to this end there is provided a grooved wheel 70 ofsubstantially the same. diameter as the reel onwhich is mounted adriving cable 72 whichengages over a pulley 73 mounted on, the rotatinarmature of a, motor 74 which is connected to be rotated, in eitherdirection by well known means, such as a'rheostat and reversing switch.

The streamlined conduit 1 will lie on the reel substantially as shown inFigs. 4 and 5. Th fuselage is provided with fairing, as at 65, forlessening Wind resistance.

a To provide suction for the vacuum chambers 1.0,.a suction pipe 76 isconnected at its suction end to the upper end of conduit 1 pipe 76 isconnected to any suitable vacuum producing means such as a wind drivenvacuum pump 77 driven by the propeller 78. The propeller is connected toturn the'cylindrical member 79 which is centrally slotted; in the slotsof 79 there is a pair of vanes 80 urged apart by a spring 81. Oil may besupplied to pipe 76, the inflowing air carrying the oil to the vanes.When 79 turns in a counterclockwise direction, Fig. 8, a suction isproduced which is communicated to the chambers 10 of theoonduit 1. Animportant aspect of this particular vacuum producing means is that thefaster the mothership is flying, the stronger the suction produced, andtherefore the greater the bowing effect, which tends to counteract thewind pressure, as described in my patentabovereferred to.

The upper end of the pipe is permanently coupled to the fuel reservoir'85. in the mother ship; and the uppermost of the vacuum chambers 10 ispermanently coupled with the suction pipe 76. A pilot rope 86 isattached at its lower end to the lower end of the conduit, as at 87,while its upperend winds on thereel 66. In winding up the conduit, thereel is rotated, whichfirst winds up the pilot rope. it in turn pullingup the. conduit,

which in turn is wound on the. reel. As the con.

duit is wound un.-any 1iquid remaining in the While the invention hasbeen described in some detail in its present preferred form, it shouldbe understood that this disclosure is illustrative and not restrictiveof the invention, and that it can be carried out in other way as fallingwithin the scope of the claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising a conduit, a valvehousing carried by the lower part of the conduit, a valve in saidhousing, means carried by the housing for temporarily attaching thehousing to the reservoir of the plane being refueled, and a commonmanual means operatively connected to the valve and to said attachingmeans.

2. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising a conduit, a valvehousing carried by the lower part of the conduit, a valve in saidhousing, means carried by the housing for temporarily attaching thehousing to the reservoir of the plane being refueled, a common manualmeans operatively connected to the valve and to said attaching means,said manual means being connected so that when the handle is released,the valve is closed automatically and the attaching means disconnected.

3. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising a conduit, a valvehousing carried by the lower part of the conduit, a valve in saidhousing, means carried by the housing for temporarily attaching thehousing to the reservoir of the plane being refueled, the valve and theattaching means being connected to turn together about a common pivot,whereby closure of the valve will disr connect the attaching means.

4. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising a conduit having aliquid channel and a suction channel, a valve housing carried at thelower end of the conduit, a manually operated valve in the housing, andmeans, connected with and actuated by the suction in the suctionchannel, for causing the valve to close when the liquid level in thereceiving reservoir has attained a predetermined level.

5. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising a conduit having aliquid channel and a suction channel, a valve housing carried at thelower end of the conduit, a manually operated valve in the housing, andmeans, connected with and actuated by the suction in the suctionchannel, for causing the valve to close when the liquid level in thereceiving reservoir has attained a predetermined level, said meanscomprising a float which is lifted by liquid sucked up from thereceiving reservoir.

6. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising in combination with anairplane fuselage, a reel for a conduit rotatably mounted substantiallyconcentrically of the fuselage with its axis of rotation extending foreand aft, the diameter of the reel being about the same as the diameterof the fuselage at the point where it is mounted and the reeling surfacebeing on the outside of the fuselage.

'7. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising in combination with anairplane fuselage, a reel for a conduit rotatably mounted substantiallyconcentrically of the fuselage with its axis of rotation extending foreand aft, the diameter of the reel being about the same as the diameterof the fuselage at the point where it is mounted, the reel encirclingthe longerons of the fuselage and the reeling surface being on theoutside of the fuselage.

8. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising in combination with anairplane fuselage, a

reel for a conduit rotatably mounted substantially concentrically of thefuselage with its axis of rotation extending fore and aft, the diameterof the reel being about the same as the diameter of the fuselage at thepoint where it is mounted, the reeling surface being on the outside ofthe fuselage and a motor for turning the reel.

9. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising a reel carried by amother ship, a refueling conduit adapted to be wound on the reel, thepipe being provided with vacuum chambers, and a vacuum pump carried bythe mother ship and adapted to be connected to the conduit.

10. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising a reel carried by amother ship, a refueling conduit adapted to be wound on the reel, thepipe being provided with vacuum chambers, and a wind driven vacuum pumpcarried by the mother ship and adapted to be connected to the conduit.

11. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising in combination with amother ship, a conduit having its upper end connected with a reservoidin the mother ship, a reel on the mother ship having its axissubstantially concentric with the fuselage thereof, and a pilot ropeconnected to the lower end of the conduit and adapted to wind on saidreel.

12. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising in combination with amother ship, a fuel reservoir, a suction producing means, a conduitcoupled at its upper end to the reservoir and the suction producingmeans, a reel on the mother ship, and a pilot rope connected to thelower end of the conduit and adapted to Wind on said reel.

13. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comprising in combination a gastank in a mother ship, a hose, the upper end of which is permanentlyconnected to the said gas tank, a reel on the mother ship, and a ropeattached to the lower end of the hose, and to the reel, for reeling upthe hose from its lower end.

14. Refueling equipment for aircraft, comthe reel, for reeling up thehose from its lower end.

BYRON H. SHINN.

